Saturday, June 15, 2013

Northern Australia reflections

What a two weeks we have had. I'm looking forward to summarising our travels properly in due course, but for today, I thought I would share some photo highlights and some general thoughts on the trip.

Darwin waterfront - sunset markets, Sunday evening.

First, Australia is a big place. Oh, I knew that in theory, and I'm sure you know it too. However, I found that I didn't fully appreciate how big until I was out in the middle of it. It is BIG!

Kakadu national park, Northern Territory, Australia.

Second, the Northern Territory is not a barren landscape. I had assumed it would be mostly desert, akin to Western Australia when you move away from the coast. It isn't. The humidity and high rainfall should have told me that, but it took seeing the green landscape to believe it.

Somewhere in the middle of the Northern Territory.

Third, I can drive a campervan. At 130km an hour (the speed limit in the N.T.)!

Queensland sugar cane.

Fourth, I can camp in a campervan, and it's actually really fun.

Kuranda scenic railway, Cairns, Queensland.

Fifth, I'm no longer someone who can say they don't take holidays. In fact, when I think about all the travel I've done with Mr Bite in the last few years, I am now someone who clearly does take their holidays. And you know what? I'm proud of myself for doing so. I am proof that you can teach yourself to relax.

Mossman gorge, far north Queensland.

Sixth, when you do take holidays and you do practice relaxation, you see some wonderful things. Certainly more than you see sitting in your office or tied to your computer at home.

Crossing the Daintree river - there is no bridge, so you take a barge over in your car!

Seventh, whilst my heart wants to live in England, it also wants to holiday in tropical rainforest. There are all the trees I can desire, and it turns out that I like humid weather when it's not hot humid weather (even if my hair disagrees).

Daintree rainforest meeting the coast, far north Queensland.

Eighth, I think everyone should visit far north Queensland. It is paradise.

If you could tell people to visit one 'must see' place, where would it be? My list currently includes London, New York, and far north Queensland...

24 comments:

Cape Trib and Daintree area are definitely a must see place. It obviously holds a special place in my mind since Andy and I were married there, but even without that, it is pretty amazing. It's the same ecosystem that existed when Australia was connected to Antarctica. The variety of plants and animals and everything is just mind boggling, not to mention the beauty of it all! I'm glad your trip was great, and I look forward to hearing more about Darwin and the NT - on my list of places to visit.

That sounds like such a lovely getaway! I'm terrible at relaxing and taking holidays, so I'm impressed that you've learned how.

I have to say, though, I'm a bit leery of the Northern Territory, and especially Darwin! I've been there once, for 36 hours, and during that time, I received the news that my grandmother had died, was accosted and verbally abused by a total stranger, and broke my leg. Actually, that all happened in the first five hours, which is quick work, really, and things did improve after that point. Still, I don't think Darwin likes me...

That is a horrible sequence of events Catherine - I can completely understand you not liking Darwin after that. How awful. Hopefully you can go back at some stage though to wipe the slate clean! And thank you :-)

I always look at Australia on the the map and think that it looks big, but I am sure that it is really huge! Northern Australia looks beautiful. I am glad that you had a wonderful two weeks away. It looked like a fun adventure.

Nice job with the camper van! I know that I can camp in one, but I can't say that I can drive one. I can't narrow my list down to one place. I tend to fall in love with just about everywhere I go, but I would say that Prague is a beautiful, artsy, and laid-back city that everyone should see. Also, Key West, FL is the perfect place to chill out and experience island living. If you ever end up in Key West, you should also check out Miami. It's a fun scene, and it's beautiful.

sounds like a wonderful holiday Kari! I haven't been to any of those places, but do intend to one day. The furthest north I've been is the Whitsundays.Your list of must see is so different :-) What would mine be??.....mmm, actually probably the Whitsundays... Tasmania, Sri Lanka and Florence. I couldn't just pick one!!

Glad the holiday went well - I love the idea of the road trip but I do worry about breaking down in remote places - so I am impressed at your trip. I am lucky to have spent some time in darwin and am quite fond of it but I haven't been to FNQ and would love to one day. I think that it is really good to see so much of Australia before leaving it. When I think of all I want to see in Australia it makes me realise just how big the place is (I used to joke that flying from Melb to Darwin was the equivalent in Europe of flying over many countries)

You're so right - our flights from Cairns to Melbourne and then to Perth could have taken us from the UK pretty much to Canada if combined!! It's quite surreal. I'm glad you've seen Darwin as you can then do FNQ without having to worry about being too remote in case of break downs ;) It's far from busy up there but you are closer to amenities than in the NT.

I spent a good chunk of my early teenage years living in Port Douglas, spending my weekends out at the reef or in the icy waters of Mossman Gorge - it is truly an amazing part of the world. My recommendation (after Far North Queensland) is Marrakech in Morocco - especially if you are a foodie :)

I think it's so important to take vacations and travel. It's so renewing for the spirit! It exposes you to new exciting things and makes you appreciate what you have at home. On that note, I really need to start saving for a trip! It's been since last summer and probably won't be till next year now. Oh well, something to look forward to!

FNQ is one of my favourite locations, especially the Daintree. I've stayed in the Daintree twice, am keen to go back for another holiday and could even see myself living there one day. I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed your campervan travels and am looking forward to the rest of your travel posts.

I think I could live in the Daintree too Mel...in fact, Mr Bite said on more than one occasion "are you sure you still want to move to London?!". Being amongst trees just does something wonderful to me.

I genuinely appreciate all comments and the time taken to post them. Occasionally, I may need to restrict commenting to registered users in order to halt large volumes of spam. If that happens, I will lift the restriction within a week.

Want other ways to interact? Bite-sized thoughts is on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/bitesizedthoughts) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bitesizethought).